We are very excited to celebrate another significant holiday with our family and church. Easter is right around the corner and conversations on the topic occur in our home naturally all the time. This year I suggested to my 5 yo Blossom to create an Easter Resurrection garden. My daughter was chuffed! After reading and discussing the story of resurrection we thought of elements that should be included in Easter garden - tomb, rock, cross and hill. Creating small worlds together with kids gives … [Read more...]
Outdoor Winter Activities For Kids
You can often hear people say that it can be challenging in winter to encourage children to go out and enjoy outdoors in cold weather. Growing up in Siberia, where snow covers the earth for 7-8 months of the year, I learnt to appreciate outdoor play immensely. If it was too cold (-30C) we would usually stay indoors. However, the majority of our leisure time was spent skiing, sliding down the hills, making snowmen, tackling friends into soft snow drifts and playing snowball fights. For those of … [Read more...]
Let The Child Lead!
In this guest post Kris of Flockmen shares great insight into importance of child-directed play, and how we can provide best platform for child's free play and discovery. Are you always busy, rushing, occupied, running from one place to other seldom having a chance to stop, think and let your child have a play with whatever he/she wants and chooses to do? The world shouts from every corner you must have this, your child should be doing that, rarely examining whether or not it is re … [Read more...]
Throw an Art {Messy} Party for Kids
There are many different creative ways to celebrate 4-year-old's birthday. The atmosphere of fun, free expression and creativity, easy going and lots of laughter - here is my happy formula for a birthday party for the free-spirited child like ours. It was the first party when we invited her friends. I wanted to make sure that she felt comfortable in her skin. From the very early age, I always encouraged her to get messy. Well, I pay for it dearly - every single painting activity ends up with my … [Read more...]
Lavender Goop – Sensory Play
Sensory play makes kids go crazy excited. Pinching, crushing, pressing, grasping, squashing, squeezing - all perfect ways to strengthen their grip and finger muscles. Play-dough, goop, slime provide kids with hours of calm play and allow them to develop better concentration. Every childcare worker or parent will appreciate easy-to-make, inexpensive recipe with a just a couple ingredients. This is a perfect option for a rainy day activity. Making goop together with kids provides an opportunity … [Read more...]
DIY Sensory Rugs for Kids
Sensory rugs are so great for children's learning and very beneficial for their development. Children are usually very attracted to sensory rugs which stimulate their senses with different textures and colours. The great news is that DIY sensory (massage) rugs are easy to make at home and are very affordable. They make the child's playtime fun and exciting. These are great for baby and toddler room set up. Maria Montessori was one of the first educators who noticed a connection between … [Read more...]
Nature Table Arrangements For Play – Fall Themed
Fall is such an inspirational part of the year. Children take the most out of this magic time. They are usually drawn outside to collect leaves, create collages, play in puddles. The palette of colours, new smells, change of temperature in nature is great stimuli for children's senses and their imagination. I would like to share with you this collection of collages and nature tables which is a wonderful way to combine fun, beauty, imagination, creativity and nature. 20 Autumn Nature T … [Read more...]
10+ Ways to Use Mirrors in Play
Sensory Play On A Mirror by Happy Hooligans. Great ideas for using small objects for sensory play and instruments for assorting them on a mirror. Physics for Kids: Water, Mirrors, and Reflections by My Nearest and Dearest. See what happens when children start to experiment with mirror and water. So much fun! Mirror Symmetry Drawing by Housing a Forest. This is a brilliant idea to use mirror for drawing. Mirrors by Racheous. Rachel shows differnt ways to … [Read more...]
Sensory Play Experiences.
I would like to share with you my ultimate collection of sensory experiences I have gathered during these couple of years. First is the set of sound activities for infants and babies to develop hearing, grip and hand coordination. When my child was only little I used to make various rattles for her using different fillers and bottles, like you can see on the pictures below. I used my bagels to make fun rattle which she just loved to play with. I also collected various types of rattles - soft, … [Read more...]
First Birthday Party Ideas
It is an incredible feeling to reach this milestone of child's life - the first birthday. I wanted to make it very special for us. First of all, since she is only turning one, we decided to celebrate it in a quiet family circle and with close friends - with the ones who were always here for us and who have shown amazing care and support through out this first year. Theme for our girl's first party was card game UNO. Once the theme was decided, it made it easy to pick the colours for the set … [Read more...]
